State trying to ease your storm stress

Strategy looks at evacuation plan

May 16, 2008|By Juan Ortega Staff Writer and Staff Writer Robert Nolin contributed to this report.

People steal gas jugs from other vehicles, smoke marijuana and are aggressive with highway gas station operators.

Such chaotic conditions are what police and highway managers occasionally have encountered as they help evacuees flee hurricanes, including Wilma, which struck South Florida in 2005.

"We had a lot of disorder during Wilma," said James Kelley, traffic engineering and maintenance consultant to Florida's Turnpike.

"We actually had people coming up, grabbing attendants and demanding gas. They had guns, knives and everything else."

State transportation managers during the past three years, however, have developed more remedies to curb highway problems that occur on Florida's Turnpike during emergencies.

The new strategies, presented Thursday during the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale, include expanding roadside helpers' coverage, having buses nearby to shuttle people to shelters after their cars break down, and ensuring tow trucks and gasoline are available. All aim to keep traffic moving as millions of people evacuate.

Emergency managers have warned for years that a major storm could spark a mass exodus and choke highways out of South Florida. And evacuation-related traffic backups have been common over the years, including in 2004, when state officials ordered 2.5 million people to flee Hurricane Frances. Traffic clogged the roads leading away from the hurricane's likely targets.

"Our biggest problem is we had to figure out how to move traffic," Kelley said.

The turnpike's Road Rangers, who patrol the highway, assist motorists. But their priority is keeping the lanes clear. They've been instructed to remain inconspicuous and no longer turn on their vehicles' hazard lights when helping those in need - a practice done in other states, said Doug Prager, traffic services manager with the state Department of Transportation. "When you do that, you become the information kiosk," Prager said. "Once one car stops, every car stops."

Rangers also alert tow truck drivers to come, Kelley said. "We're going to aggressively clear the blockages," he said. "If they're stuck in the middle of the road, they're going to be on the side of the road very quickly."

The state has equipped the Turnpike's eight service plazas with better electric generators that are tested weekly. Pumps at service plazas also have been upgraded, so gas station operators can more easily limit how much gas customers can buy.

Such strategies also are intended to help avoid using a plan to reverse traffic on key highways during a major hurricane, turning them into one-way routes heading north. That plan, on the books since 1999, would be used only as a last resort. Emergency managers prefer that residents find shelter in their own county if possible.

Prager said he hopes the state is never forced to use the one-way traffic evacuation technique, called the "Contra-Flow" plan. Prager said the only two highways the state would use for one-way traffic would be portions of Florida's Turnpike and Alligator Alley, also known as Interstate 75.

"It's a drop in the bucket. It's not going to have a major impact, but it will allow us to use everything at our disposal," he said.

Staff Writer Robert Nolin contributed to this report.

Juan Ortega can be reached at jcortega@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4701.

Get ready

Find out what you need to do to prepare for this year's hurricane season at Sun-Sentinel.com/hurricane